(7) "Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
(7) Τί οὗτος οὕτως λαλεῖ; βλασφημεῖ· τίς δύναται ἀφιέναι ἁμαρτίας εἰ μὴ εἷς ὁ θεόσ;
There's an old expression that "sometimes even a blind squirrel finds an acorn." Or if you prefer, "even a broken clock is right twice a day." We usually use this when someone stumbles into something that is typically beyond them. A good sports example would be when Anderson Varejao hit a 3 pointer with the shot clock running out. That was his first made 3 out of 19 attempts in his career. These things happen sometimes.
My point is that the scribes and Pharisees are not always wrong. In this case, the scribes got it right. Who can forgive sins but God alone? The answer is no one. Yet that is just what Jesus did. He had authority to forgive sins because He was the one that was sinned against.
A very wooden translation of the final clause in this verse would be, "except one who is God." We know that God is one. Therefore, Jesus is part of that oneness that is God. He is clearly not God the Father, but He is exercising authority as God.
I don't claim to have my mind wrapped completely around this. But I cannot escape from what the text clearly teaches about this. Jesus is worthy of our worship because He is God.
2 comments:
On the other hand, would one not be able to do various things if God had authorized him? That would also account for Jesus doing much that one might think only God could do.
"Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." Matt 28:18 NIV
Sure. But the point is that in this passage we see clearly that He can forgive sins. Who is sinned against when we sin? It is God.
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